Author Topic: HOAs  (Read 1568 times)

Hawkmoon

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HOAs
« on: January 16, 2020, 05:59:25 PM »
Tell me again why I should live in an HOA.

https://www.newser.com/story/285688/arizona-hoa-says-orphan-cant-live-with-grandparents.html

Yeah, I get it: Ve haf rulz! But when the rules are so tight and so strict that they don't allow for an orphan to live with his grandparents, that's pretty heartless.

I can't remember ever reading anything good about an HOA. And in many parts of the country, it's difficult to find a house that isn't in an HOA. That's distressing to me.
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Ben

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2020, 06:54:29 PM »
My first HOA in a small complex was a nightmare, run by a tinpot dictator. The last HOA I was in for over 20 years was in Santa Barbara, and I have to say even if it was run by liberal commie pinko socialists, they did an overall good job, were not intrusive other than where I thought it was appropriate (examples: towing unregistered vehicles left to rot, clamping down on unruly kids destroying stuff), and were generally friendly and forthcoming. What I hated there was the $380/mo HOA fees.
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RoadKingLarry

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2020, 07:43:21 PM »
Just what did you get for $380 a month beyond what you mentioned?
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Ben

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2020, 08:31:29 PM »
Just what did you get for $380 a month beyond what you mentioned?

It was a large complex, so lots of landscaping costs, pool, gym, public space electric and stuff like that. Then some was insurance, county costs, etc. A lot of it was repair and maintenance reserves. Money for things like external dry rot repair and similar. They kept the place immaculate - moreso than they needed to IMO. They did full external painting twice while I was there. Full building fumigation twice, plus repaved all the parking areas three times. The cash reserves were huge. They recognized that they were getting too much cash reserves which is why I paid $380 for my last ten years there. Before that the fees went up every single year. With all the cash they had banked though, they could afford to keep the fees the same. AFAIK, it's still $380.

It was actually not an overly high HOA fee for the area. In the hoity toity complexes, $1000/mo was not unheard of.
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BobR

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2020, 09:02:48 PM »
As I look at for a new place to live in Pahrump I am specifically avoiding HOA's. We really wanted to live in a nice golf course community there, then we read the CC&Rs and HOA rules. Then I found some meeting minutes from 2018, from Jan to Apr 2018 they issued 400+ HOA violations. Now we are steering clear of there.

bob

charby

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2020, 11:10:32 PM »
I'm wanting to retire part of the year on a private lake community somewhere, I already know that there will be an HOA because someone needs to pay for the community roads, lake maintenance, etc.

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MechAg94

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2020, 11:58:01 PM »
Not all HOA's are the same.  Take some time to looking into the one where you think you want to move.

Also, HOA's (from what I hear) are run by the people who show up at the meetings and volunteer.  If you don't take part, you are leaving that to the busy bodies.
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cordex

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2020, 05:08:46 AM »
Not all HOA's are the same.  Take some time to looking into the one where you think you want to move.

Also, HOA's (from what I hear) are run by the people who show up at the meetings and volunteer.  If you don't take part, you are leaving that to the busy bodies.
Both of these are true.
I live in an HOA. I don’t like it, but it isn’t awful. I would not choose to live in another.

Many HOAs are actually run by the companies hired to manage them, and since you never get a quorum in the meetings no one can really change anything.

K Frame

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2020, 05:33:14 AM »
"I can't remember ever reading anything good about an HOA."

Yes you have. I've often talked about how good and low key my HOA is.
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K Frame

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #9 on: January 17, 2020, 05:33:49 AM »
"What I hated there was the $380/mo HOA fees."

No, you just hated California.
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Jamisjockey

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #10 on: January 17, 2020, 08:35:02 AM »
Tell me again why I should live in an HOA.

https://www.newser.com/story/285688/arizona-hoa-says-orphan-cant-live-with-grandparents.html

Yeah, I get it: Ve haf rulz! But when the rules are so tight and so strict that they don't allow for an orphan to live with his grandparents, that's pretty heartless.

I can't remember ever reading anything good about an HOA. And in many parts of the country, it's difficult to find a house that isn't in an HOA. That's distressing to me.

 ;/

This *expletive deleted*it again.

If one chooses to move into an HOA, you agree to a set of rules ahead of time before you move in.
It's a *expletive deleted*ing contract.
Violating a contract after VOLUNTARILY agreeing to it makes one a whiny bitch. 
Do I feel bad for these people?  Yup.  What could they do?
Move the *expletive deleted*ck out.


Reasons to live in an HOA community?
1) communal landscaping
2) small lots...if you live on a .1 acre lot, having trashy neighbors and no recourse sucks.
3) pools, parks, fitness facilities, walking trails
4) just to piss the old *expletive deleted*ing codgers of APS off
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Ben

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2020, 09:05:02 AM »
As I look at for a new place to live in Pahrump I am specifically avoiding HOA's. We really wanted to live in a nice golf course community there, then we read the CC&Rs and HOA rules. Then I found some meeting minutes from 2018, from Jan to Apr 2018 they issued 400+ HOA violations. Now we are steering clear of there.

bob

That's important research to do. In my Santa Barbara HOA, violations were listed in the monthly update (The HOA was run by a management company but officers were residents). Violations, as in some kind of fine, were extremely rare. The closest we usually got was from vehicle owners paing for their vehicles being towed, and many of those were non-residents. Both the unregistered junkers, and the damn college kids who would come visit their friends in the complex and park in assigned parking, in front of fire hydrants, etc. Everything else was either warnings, or enacting new rules, like locking pool access to only those with complex keycards (and paying out of the HOA funds for the new gates for that). Otherwise, it was always polite warnings about "be kind to your neighbors". Sometimes I wish they would have handed out more violations to the few inconsiderate jackasses.

On the other hand, and I would have never expected this, some of the places I was looking at here in ID before I bought mine, if they were in the 3-5 acre range, often had HOAs. Mostly for stuff like a community well and snowplowing, but one in particular, which I was really interested in, was Draconian. I got hold of the HOA rules and read them, and they had stuff in there like "no generators allowed". This was in a subdivision with large lots mind you, so it's not like your neighbor is "next door". It was also well outside city limits, where you might expect power outages. So that was just weird. That and other rules that you might expect in a condo complex instead of a rural subdivision, put me in the hard "no" category. The HOA fees were only like $100/yr, but the rules were too much.
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

Brad Johnson

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #12 on: January 17, 2020, 09:13:30 AM »
I'm anti-HOA due to the crap I had to deal with when I was in real estate. However, if someone wants to live in one, more power to them. It's their money and their life. Best advice I ever heard in that respect was to attend and HOA meeting and experience the vibe. Attitudes and actions during a meeting is a pretty good indicator of what living with them will be like. If they won't let you attend at all, you have your answer without even going.

Brad
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K Frame

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #13 on: January 17, 2020, 09:18:43 AM »
"Violating a contract after VOLUNTARILY agreeing to it makes one a whiny bitch. "


BUT DID YOU DIE?

 :rofl: :rofl:
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K Frame

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #14 on: January 17, 2020, 09:25:53 AM »
So many HOAs become little Hitlerplatzes because people just don't give a *expletive deleted*ck about what's going on where they live. Their inaction allows it to happen.

I don't have a lot of sympathy (well, pretty much none) for people who move into a community, don't do any research, don't talk to anyone who lives there (GO KNOCK ON SOME DOORS AND TALK TO PEOPLE!), don't read the covenants, and then start bitching about how it's Hitlerville.

There are a LOT of HOA's in the United States. The ones that are truly Hitlervilles are the exception, but they're the ones people hear about.

It is NO different than 1 gun owner does something stupid and illegal and it's blown up all over the news and suddenly people start to think that 1 = ALL. How many of us have bitched long and hard about that portrayal here over the years?

Kind of hypocritical to cry about how people think you're a baby murdering psychopath while screeching that ALL HOAS ARE EVIL DEATH CULTS OF SATAN AND SHOULD EXTERMINATED!



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230RN

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #15 on: January 17, 2020, 09:55:38 AM »
As I look at for a new place to live in Pahrump I am specifically avoiding HOA's. We really wanted to live in a nice golf course community there, then we read the CC&Rs and HOA rules. Then I found some meeting minutes from 2018, from Jan to Apr 2018 they issued 400+ HOA violations. Now we are steering clear of there.

bob

The way you put it sounds like it was a specific problem in those 4 months.

One owner was a complete dorkhead?

A problem generated in a specific area around the golf course from external sources?

New rules that not everyone caught on to?

Actual finable violations, or just advisements?





BobR

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #16 on: January 17, 2020, 11:19:23 AM »
The way you put it sounds like it was a specific problem in those 4 months.

One owner was a complete dorkhead?

A problem generated in a specific area around the golf course from external sources?

New rules that not everyone caught on to?

Actual finable violations, or just advisements?






I wish I knew what they were but that info wasn't available. One of the big things that stuck out for me was you cold not leave a vehicle parked in your driveway for more than 24 hours without moving it. There are times in good weather my truck doesn't move for weeks because I am riding my bike. Plus there is no RV parking there so I would have to pay someone else to store my toyhauler. There are plenty of 1 acre plus places there that are just as nice and we will buy a swim spa to make up for the lack of pool access at the community. We don't golf so that isn't a concern.

bob

230RN

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Re: HOAs
« Reply #17 on: January 18, 2020, 02:21:13 PM »
I wish I knew what they were but that info wasn't available. One of the big things that stuck out for me was you cold not leave a vehicle parked in your driveway for more than 24 hours without moving it. There are times in good weather my truck doesn't move for weeks because I am riding my bike. Plus there is no RV parking there so I would have to pay someone else to store my toyhauler. There are plenty of 1 acre plus places there that are just as nice and we will buy a swim spa to make up for the lack of pool access at the community. We don't golf so that isn't a concern.

bob

:)
Just go erase the chalk marks on your tires.  Put a new chalk mark somewhere else so it looks as if the truck has been moved.  In some weather conditions you might need to brush some crap away from under the tires.
:)

"Twenty four hours" is a little stiff. Seems to go beyond the goal of keeping inoperable or abandoned vehicles out of the community.  Do they enforce that routinely, on their own motion, or only by complaints from other residents?

 A really outlandish idea if you decide to move there would be to go to them and explain your case, and that just starting the engine to move the truck a foot or so is not good for the engine.  Since the root of the problem is that you're being environmentally friendly (bike riding to work), this might work in your favor if you played that card right.

Terry, 230RN
« Last Edit: January 18, 2020, 02:40:07 PM by 230RN »